SAO Full Blast: A Matter of Life and Death
by TheRealEvanSG
Summary: When Hashimoto Kazuki's mother is killed before his eyes in Sword Art Online, he is left broken and hopeless. Six months later, he is a solo player who vows to never party with anyone again. But after meeting a girl named Nao, Kazuki finds his fate irrevocably entwined with hers. When the murder guild who killed his mother returns, can he and Nao stop them from killing anyone else?
1. Awake in an Eternal Slumber

**Hello, everyone! Although this is definitely not my first fanfiction, this is my first one for the SAO fandom. I hope this fanfic is interesting enough to keep you all coming back for more, despite the fact that it is indeed another OC fanfic. I definitely like the premise of Sword Art Online and I think it has a possibility for many different stories taking place in it. You can think of this as one of those stories. It will not interfere with the original plot, but will run parallel with canon events.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own SAO or any related canon characters. I only own Hiro-kun, Nao-chan and a few others.**

**Let's start chapter 1!**

* * *

Chapter 1: Awake in an Eternal Slumber  


_The dungeon room was shrouded in darkness and was eerily silent, the only sound being the steady drip, drop, drip, drop of water from some unknown location. The stone floor was ice against my feet. The air was uncomfortably warm and heavy with moisture.  
_

_In front of me, Mother halted and raised a hand, stopping me from moving forward._

_"There's someone else in here with us," she murmured, pointing to a cluster of shadow-clad rocks in the corner of the room._

_I narrowed my eyes and swallowed. Hovering in the darkness was a green cursor and a single health bar._

My feet kicked out suddenly, connecting with nothing. My sheets tangled themselves around my body as I twisted and turned. A bead of sweat trickled down my forehead, dripping onto the pillow.

_"Why is he hiding there?" I asked, taking a step back._

_Mom frowned. "I'm not sure. It certainly is strange. If he was a member of the Holy Dragon Alliance, he'd confront us openly, but... I don't know what's up with him. Kazuki-kun, stay back. This could get dangerous."_

_I took a deep breath. There had been a mysteriously sharp increase of PKs recently, and I had a very bad feeling about that green cursor above and behind the rock pile._

_"How sweet," a low voice sneered. "The caring mother's final words to her wimpy son."  
_

_Light caught off of a metallic object that poked above the rock pile. The object drew itself back, and my breath hitched. Mom placed her hand on the grip of the light rapier that hung on her hip. I brought my own quivering hand up to the enormous, heavy greatsword that sat in a sheath on my back, but didn't take it out. My entire body was trembling._

_The disembodied voice chuckled crazily. "My orders were to eliminate the brunette bitch immediately, but man! Madoka, when I think of the enraged, broken expression on your face as you watch your son die right in front of your eyes... it makes me shiver in delight!"_

"No..." I cried out softly in my sleep, my voice muffled by the soft creme-colored pillow. "M-Mom!"

_The knife suddenly flashed through the air, spinning hilt-over-tip on a direct course at my chest. I whirled around and dashed away like a bird flushed out of the underbrush of a forest. The knife simply changed direction and followed my path, probably due to a Unique Skill its owner had. If it hit me, it would've pierced my heart. My HP would've dropped to zero and I would've died right there._

_I would've... if it hadn't been for Mom, who jumped in front of the knife._

_There was no scream of pain. No agonized cry, no plea for mercy or health potions. Just a small gasp and the sound of my mother's body hitting the icy floor behind me._

_I risked a glance back and my throat went dry._

_A wickedly sharp knife was stick so deep between Mom's eyes that I couldn't even see the blade. Blood pooled on the dungeon floor around my mother's body, and she lay there, totally lifeless. Above her, her health bar was depleting rapidly. The green shrunk to yellow. Yellow became red. And then red became nothing at all._

_I hauled ass out of that dungeon, unable to watch as my mother's body shattered like glass into a million tiny pixelated fragments that dissipated in the wind._

_She was dead._

_My weakness, my crushing fear had killed her._

A scream rose in my throat and burst out with the force of a trumpet blast. My eyes snapped open. I sat up stiffly in bed, straight as a board, glancing around the room with crazy eyes that had seen too much. My chest rose and fell harder than if I'd just ran a marathon. My cheeks were wet with tears.

Alone in the silent bedroom, I bent over, burying my head in my arms, and wept for my fallen mother.

* * *

Allow me to introduce myself.

My real name is Hashimoto Kazuki, although here in the VRMMORPG Sword Art Online, I go by my avatar's name of Hiro. My mother and I both grabbed copies of SAO from the store on the day it was released. Unlike most parents, Mom was actually a really hardcore video game fan. I probably inherited that from her.

Most people would probably be surprised that I'm a video game fan. I have a pretty big body - - not fat-wise, but muscly. I used to be the star of my school's track team. Everybody who met me generally assumed that I was one of those cliche strong, silent types, but really I didn't feel like that. I always got scared easily. I felt awkward in my body, like I didn't deserve to have it. Even my voice didn't fit it. It was so high, that pretty much every person who met me did a double-take.

In any case, that was how we both came to be trapped in the game along with approximately 10,000 other players.

For the first few months of our entrapment within Sword Art Online, my mom and I fought through the various floors and dungeons together. Neither my father nor my sister played video games, so they were waiting for us in the real world, but Mom and I pretended like we still had a full family in here. The belief that we could one day all get back together again was what kept us from going insane like so many other players had.

Mom and I were mostly "solo" players. We didn't join any guilds or party up with anyone except ourselves. Occasionally we'd allow someone else to explore with us, but only if they were hunting for a particularly rare material, trying to clear a particularly dicey dungeon, or attempting to challenge an exceptionally tough boss. Mostly, we kept to ourselves.

Until Mom got an offer she couldn't refuse - - a chance to join the Knights of the Blood Oath, in return for an amazingly strong weapon for both of us.

We slowly grew more distant. Because of her Knight duties, we partied up less and less.

The last time we did so ended in tragedy.

After that, I became a purely solo player, walking through SAO completely alone. Six months have passed since the day I got my mother killed and a little over two years have gone by since everyone was trapped in Sword Art Online.

Today was Saturday, December 3rd. I had nothing to do. I'd completed most of the NPC quests that were available here on the 42nd floor, where I'd decided to buy myself a house. Unable to look at the weapon bestowed upon me by the Knights of the Blood Oath, I'd traded it in for a greatsword with a +10 HP bonus yesterday. I also sold my map of the floor's dungeon to a passing guild last week.

I stretched and yawned.

"What to do, what to do?" I sighed, rubbing my head.

I ended up going out into the town on Floor 42, Shining Glade. Despite its forest-y sounding name, it was a bustling, modern city that brought heart-clenching memories of Tokyo to mind. It made me remember trips to the manga store with my nerdy sister, hanging out in school with my best friends. Even Maths seemed like a slice of heaven compared to what I'd seen in the past two years.

I walked along Shining Glade's main drag, wondering what I could do. Should I go to the local blacksmith's and repair my armor's durability? Should I go out and grind for more EXP? Maybe there was an NPC quest in town that I'd missed, although that didn't seem likely. I had been living here for the past four months.

As I passed by the town square in the center of Shining Glade, I noticed a congregation of both NPCs and players alike, all gathered around the pine tree fountain.

I blinked, my interest piqued. "Is it some sort of special event?" I thought aloud.

I pushed through the crowd, shoving my way to the front so I could see what was going on.

"No way," people were saying. "That short girl thinks she can beat Jintan?"

Another person snorted. "Yeah, there's no way she'll win. What floor did she say she comes from, 25? What an airhead. Does she want to get herself killed or something?"

Raising my eyebrow at the group's muttering, I finally made my way to the front. The people had created a large circle around two players whose swords were pointed right at each other's chest. One was a tall fellow who looked like he had to stoop all the time so his head wouldn't hit doors. He wore shining red armor like a human scorpion. His weapon was an awesome broadsword that had a mysterious shine about it, like it had been forged from crystal.

The scorpion-armored man's challenger was a girl who barely came up to his chest. Flowing hair as white as snow ran down her back in a ponytail. Her chest was as small as the rest of her, and she had a cute, heart-shaped face. Her eyes were green like tree leaves. The girl's weapon was strikingly reminiscent of my mother's old rapier, except a bit longer and tinted blue.

Girl and man circled each other, both smirking dangerously.

"What's going on?" I asked a random player next to me.

He frowned - - although whether it was about the event or my high voice, I couldn't tell. "That girl got into an argument with Jintan. You know Jintan, right?" I shook my head, mystified, and he sighed. "He's a high-ranking officer in the Aincrad Liberation Squad. Anyway, they got into some petty argument about one thing or another, and they decided to settle it with swords. Jintan's gonna slaughter her."

"What's the girl's name?"

"Don't know. She hasn't said."

Humming, I turned my attention back to the duel. The scorpion-armored guy, Jintan, was now holding his sword behind him. It glowed deep violet as his Sword Skill activated.

The girl grunted. "Using your Sword Skill so early? What a waste. And here I thought this battle would be flashy and fun. But I guess you want to get this over with quickly, huh...?"

Jintan scowled. "Yes, I do," he said dangerously. "I have duties to return to."

"Alright. Then I suppose I'll show you my own Sword Skill."

"You'll have to survive this blow first," said Jintan with a spark in his eye, and he dashed forward, slashing his broadsword through the air. It left a thin purple trail behind him and the unknown girl's eyes widened. She sidestepped to the left, but the attack was a feint, and Jintan's sword flashed through the air as it changed course on a path that would cut off her leg.

Even so, the female player reacted with surprising speed. She jumped into the air, landed on Jintan's blade, and pushed off. The sudden application of force caused the Army soldier to stumble forward and lose his balance. His opponent flipped through the air, her sword glowing orange as she started to fall. The girl pointed the tip of her blade behind her, right at Jintan, and three beams of light shot out of it.

Jintan regained his balance, but it wasn't soon enough. One beam of light struck him in the arm. A second pierced his leg. A third hit him right in the face as he turned around, hissing in pain. All three beams had managed to find chinks in the soldier's armor. His health bar was quickly exhausted, and although it didn't hit zero, he sank to the cobblestone square on one knee.

The crowd gave a collective gasp of astonishment as a notification appeared over the girl: _Winner, Nao!_

The white-haired girl, who must've been Nao, grinned satisfactorily. "Easy."

"I... lost...?" Jintan growled, punching the base of the fountain. "Impossible! That bitch must've cheated or something!"

Nao shrugged. "Nah, it wasn't cheating. Your armor's durability is low. There were a lot of chinks in it. I simply struck where the most damage would be dealt."

My eyes widened. But she'd been aiming from behind, without even looking... How good was this girl? Nao must've been a beta tester. There was no other explanation for her astoundingly quick defeat of the high-ranking Army soldier. No, maybe she wasn't just a beta taster... she could even be a beater!

"Well, I'll be going then," said Nao, grinning at the crowd, whose jaws had all dropped comically. "If anyone has a map of the dungeon here, let me know. There's a certain item drop I need from a certain monster that spawns there. I'll be waiting at the Brown Bark Inn all day, so if you have the map, come find me."

With the usual Japanese silent goodbye of a raised hand, Nao pushed her way cheerfully out of the crowd and headed off down a side street. Jintan glared daggers at her retreating back before swallowing a health potion and stomping away.

Everybody exchanged glances with each other.

Just who was Nao?

The crowd gradually dispersed, talking amongst themselves as they went back to whatever they had been doing. I remained in front of the fountain, considering. I hadn't partied up in a long time, afraid that I might cause the death of another player like what had happened with my mom, but...

I let out a long breath. "Well, Hiro," I said to myself, "looks like you found something to do today."

And I headed off for the inn.

Brown Bark Inn was a small building with only six or seven rooms that sat on the east side of town. It was cheap and anybody could stay there. Even so, it was well-respected in Shining Glade. It was homey and comfortable. It was one of the few inns not run by an NPC, and not only was the owner a nice lady, but she was also one of the best cooks on Floor 42. People often said that if she hadn't decided to open an inn, she could've gotten rich quick by running a restaurant.

I pushed open the door and entered the inn, smiling at the owner. In the past four months, I'd handled several requests for her, hunting various monsters so she could make new dishes to serve her guests.

"Hello, Greesa-chan," I greeted her with a nod.

She smiled brightly. "Hi, Hiro-kun! You don't come here often unless you've completed a request I gave you. How can I help you?"

"Do you know what room a girl named Nao is staying in?"

"Nao, eh?" The woman leaned forward slyly. "You got a girlfriend or something?"

My cheeks burned. "What gave you that idea!? Of course not! It's just that she was asking around town earlier for someone with information on this floor's dungeon, and I decided to help her out. She said she was staying here."

"You said she was Nao, huh?" Greesa hummed. "Her room's Number 3, but I can send her a message if you want."

"That'd be good."

Greesa pulled up her in-game menu and selected the 'message' option. She typed something into the floating virtual keyboard that appeared and punched the 'send' button.

She nodded. "Alright, Nao-chan should be coming down in a minute or so."

I bowed. "Arigato, Greesa-chan."

"Anytime, Hiro-kun!"

Someone entered the inn and came up to the counter, and Greesa was returned to her usual work. While I waited for Nao, I plopped myself down on one of the plush green couches that sat in this room of the Brown Bark Inn. I allowed myself to relax and stretch.

I felt a dainty finger tap on my shoulder. "Hey, big guy. Are you Hiro-kun?"

I looked over my shoulder. Nao stood there, her hands on her hips as she raised an eyebrow at me. Now that I got a closer look at her, I noticed things I hadn't before. For instance, her eyes seemed to have an excited glint in them. Her clothes consisted of a well-made monster hide shirt, a golden ring on her finger that probably increased Luck or Resilience to something like poison, tan pants, and comfortable-looking shoes.

"Yeah, that's me," I confirmed

The small teen was taken aback. "Whoa!" she said, blinking. "Your voice is really high. Are you sure Kayaba reverted you from your avatar to your actual self? You're not actually a girl, are you?"

"Uh... no, I'm not. Moving on. I saw your fight with Jintan earlier. That was pretty cool, how you defeated him so quickly."

Nao blushed a little. "T-Thanks. Anyway, do you have info on Floor 42's dungeon?"

I winced. "Well, not physical information," I admitted, "but I've cleared it several times."

The new girl's eyes widened, and she gasped, "Really!? You must know your way around it pretty well, then. Would you be willing to party up with me? You... you're not in a guild, are you?"

"Nah, I'm a solo player. As for partying up with you, sure, but we each get half of the experience and Cur from any monsters we defeat. Deal?"

"Deal."

We both opened up our menus, and Nao sent me a party invite. My finger hesitated for a moment above the OK button. Memories of the last time I'd partied up with someone flashed through my mind - - that damned knife, that bone-chilling laughter, and my mom laying in a puddle of her own blood.

"Um, Hiro-kun?" said Nao pointedly. "Hello? Anybody home?"

I blinked as I was brought back to reality.

"Sorry," I muttered, and I accepted the party invite.

Six months ago, my mom sacrificed herself to save me. Time had seemed to stop since then. I hadn't been truly happy in what seemed like forever. But despite my inhibitions to join any party, as my finger touched the virtual button, a strangely pleasant feeling warmed my chest. In my head, time started moving again. As Nao and I bumped fists, the first true smile in months spread out on my lips.

Strangely, it was good to be playing the game with someone else again.

* * *

**Well, what do you guys think of the first chapter? Personally, I think it's pretty awesome! I'd actually planned to have Kazuki/Hiro and Nao fight through the dungeon in this chapter, but it turned out longer than I'd expected, so I just cut it off with them partying up. And as a little sidenote, Hiro's unusually high voice will be a running gag throughout the series! **

**I hope you all enjoyed this first chapter of my new fanfic. If you did, go ahead and follow it for more, and fave if you want. Neither action is necessary for me to keep writing this, but they would both be highly appreciated. And something that is even more appreciated are reviews! I like to know what you guys think of my stories. Plus, it's not like only FFN members can post them. You can even leave a review if you're a guest and don't have a membership.**

**Have a good day!**

**-TheRealEvanSG**


	2. A Chance to Save, A Chance to Atone

**Welcome back, everyone, to my new fanfiction! I'm pleased as punch that you've all decided to continue reading this. I know how much people tend to stay away from OC stories in fear of yet another Mary Sue, but know that I will do everything in my power to keep any of those little suckers from slipping into my humble story. Also, there is a slight time change from the first chapter to this one, although it's only about half an hour long.**

**Please remember that I do not own Sword Art Online or any related plots/characters/locations.**

**Chapter 2 start!**

* * *

Chapter 2: A Chance to Save, A Chance to Atone  


The dungeon on Floor 42 was sort of unique. It was a labyrinth of blocks that floated around the room in a pattern that at first seemed random, but was actually an incredibly well thought-out system. While players sat on the blocks which carried them to a certain new room, enormous metallic creatures similar to the humble honeybee attacked them ferociously.

It wasn't just dealing with getting on the right blocks and fending off the monsters that made the dungeon so infamous - - it was the fact that you had to jump to the right block at the right time. Spend too long defeating a monster, or just choose the wrong path, and you had teleport back to town. It was so aggravating that older gamers often compared it to the Water Temple in that old Zelda game, Ocarina of Time.

I had spent several mind-numbingly boring hours mapping out the movements of the blocks both on virtual paper and mentally. I wasn't completely sure where every block went, but I knew most of it by heart.

"So this is Floor 42's dungeon," mused Nao, glancing about the first room interestedly.

I snorted. "Yeah. Commonly called the Dungeon of Augh! 'Cause, you know, when most people leave, they're so frustrated they want to punch a tree down."

My new party member hummed. "I can see why other players don't like it much," she agreed. "Seems like it's really confusing without a map or a guide. Good thing I found you!"

_More like _I_ found _you_, _I thought dryly, but shrugged.

"Yeah. Otherwise, you wouldn't get very far very quickly."

This first room of the dungeon was bathed in pale blue light, and the iron walls glowed a futuristic green. As soon as we'd entered, a series of low piano notes struck up, a quiet tune that fit the dungeon perfectly. The floor below the starting platform was covered in thousands of spikes that would kill anybody without Stab-Resistant Shoes... which, unfortunately, neither Nao or I had acquired. However, before we entered the dungeon, I'd bought plenty of Teleport Crystals.

After all, I may have most of the dungeon mapped out in my mind, but we still could get a setback, like a swarm of iron honeybees attacking us at once.

One of the black boxes floated past the starting platform, and I nodded at Nao. "That's the one we want," I said. "Hop on!"

We both leaped onto the box. Nao's jump was too far and she nearly stumbled off it. Luckily, I managed to catch her arm and yank her back on before she dropped into the ocean of deadly spikes below. She steadied herself, then looked at the pit she almost fell into with wide eyes.

"That could've ended badly," she said in a small voice.

Something on the ceiling caught my eye. I put a hand on the hilt of my greatsword, which hung on my back, and glanced up. My eyes narrowed. Hovering in the shadows of a nearby corner was a large, fat shape that looked suspiciously like a bee.

It suddenly barreled down at us. I grunted and unsheathed my greatsword, swinging it in a wide arc. It passed cleanly through the monster. I grinned as the beast shattered into pentagonal red AI fragments.

Nao raised an eyebrow. "Not too bad. What level are you, Hiro-kun, if you don't mind me asking?"

I shrugged. "Level 51. Not the best, but yeah, not too bad either. I've been able to get by on my own."

"A solo player, then?"

"Yeah. I haven't partied with anyone besides you since..." I gritted my teeth and shook my head. "Since a long time. You know, you're not too shabby yourself. What was that cutting-beam move you pulled earlier today? I've never seen anything like it."

"A Unique Skill."

Nao didn't elaborate, and I didn't try to force her to.

Two more blocks passed our own before one that was slightly larger than the others came by from the left.

"There's our ride," I said.

We both stepped over to it. This time, Nao's landing was still a bit off, but better. At least, she wasn't in danger of becoming human shish-kabob. Her white hair had a strange, pale blue hue to it as a result of the room's dim lighting.

For a second, the dungeon was silent except for the soft music. We rode our current block to the next one peacefully, seizing each other up. Nao opened her mouth to say something, but she never got to say it.

It was a like a switch had been thrown. Nao was suddenly screaming a high-pitched cry of terror that nearly broke my eardrums. I whirled around, sure that I was about to be attacked by rampaging iron honeybees. I frowned when I realized there was nothing behind me. Nao was still yelling like a madwoman, gasps and weeping mixed in, and when I turned back to her, she had sunk to the floor, curling up in the fetal position. Her body trembled worse than mine had been after last night's nightmare of my mom's death.

My muscles tensed. "Er... N-Nao-chan? What's wrong?"

The girl didn't answer. Instead, she looked up at me with blank eyes. No... she didn't look up at me. Nao looked straight _through_ me, like I wasn't even there.

"Nao-chan...?"

Her body stopped shaking and she blinked. "H-Hiro... kun!" Her voice was hoarse from screaming at the top of her lungs.

"You alright?" I asked, nervously offering her my hand.

She allowed me to pull her back up to a standing position. "Y-Yeah. Sorry. An event boss on a lower floor inflicted me with a Random Panic status effect. It's incurable by all potions except a special one that can only be made by gathering certain ingredients in a certain order and then brewing them under a full moon."

"Random Panic?"

Nao nodded, still looking shaken. "It takes me over randomly, making me see horrible hallucinations," she murmured. "It's... it's awful. It nearly got me killed in a boss fight three weeks ago. Had I not decided to briefly join a guild then, well... I wouldn't be talking to you now."

I swallowed. "Wow. That doesn't sound fun."

"Tell me about it. Actually, my Random Panic is the reason I want to kill this dungeon's boss. One of its item drops is an ingredient I need to cure the status effect."

"Is that so?"

My eyes wandered past her, where a floating block drifted away from us.

I nearly choked. "D-Damn!" I hissed, and Nao jumped. "That was... the next block we needed."

We watched it float to the back of the room. We'd spent so much time talking that we'd completely missed it, and now it was too far away for us to reach.

"Um... oops?" Nao managed sheepishly.

* * *

We ended up having to use two of our Teleport Crystals to go back to town. We also wasted a small chunk of time making our way back to the dungeon. Our second attempt was much quieter than the first. Neither Nao nor I wanted to accidentally miss another block because of conversation again.

The next ten minutes passed uneventfully. We made it through the first room without much incident, except for a momentary iron honeybee attack. Nao and I leapt off the last block and onto the exit platform, finding ourselves standing before a futuristic door with a zigzag of red light through it.

Nao let out a relieved breath. "Huh, what do you know? That wasn't so hard." She brushed a lock of white hair behind her ear.

I grunted. "We would've been here sooner if I'd been paying more attention last time."

"Yeah... I'm really sorry about that."

"No, no. It's my bad."

The door split off into two sections, one of which slid up while the other slid down. They moved so silently it was a bit unsettling, but Kayaba and the other game designers had probably designed it to get under your skin. I stepped through the entrance to the second room with my new friend.

This new area of the dungeon was much like the first, except with more moving blocks and more monster honeybees. It had taken me a bit longer to map out this room when I had arrived here on Floor 42.

"Do all the rooms look like this?" Nao asked, frowning. "Because that could get annoyingly repetitive."

I shrugged. "More or less." Then I motioned to a block that brushed past the second room's starting platform, and we jumped onto it. "Anyway, there's something we need to do first before we can move on to the next room - - find the silver key. It's always in one of two places."

"Which would be where?" prodded Nao.

"It _could _be nestled in the back left corner, but it's more likely that we'll only be able to get it by defeating all the monsters in this room. Can you use that Unique Skill again? It would be very helpful and time-saving."

She shook her head. "I can only use it once a day. Damn. If I would've known that I would be exploring the dungeon today, I wouldn't have used it against that Jintan guy."

"That kinda sucks that you can only use it once a day..."

"I know. Can't even tell you how many Teleport Crystals I've wasted because of that."

While we talked, I paid more attention to the movement of our blocks. I'd learned from my previous mistake and refused to make it again. As we hopped from block to block, we sliced apart any iron honeybees that dared to even glance at us, gaining welcome experience and cash for each monster kill. I set us on a path that would take us to the back left corner, just in case the honeybees didn't have the key.

We crossed over to another block, and suddenly a honeybee army shot up from the floor, buzzing furiously.

I gritted my teeth and unsheathed my greatsword. Nao's eyes widened as she took out her own rapier.

"Those little suckers can be surprisingly stealthy when they want to," I grumbled. "Nao-chan. Let's kill as many as we can, but always keep an eye on the other blocks. Oh, and watch out for their stingers. They secrete a poison that slowly depletes your HP. If they get you, let me know - - I have antidotes for the effect in my inventory."

Moments after the words left my mouth, the iron honeybees dive bombed us, poisonous stingers pointing straight at our chests. We dodged them as best we could, cutting through their ranks with our respective blades. They managed to nick our skin a couple of times but we ignored the poison that slowly spread through our virtual system.

We had to change blocks before we'd fully defeated the honeybee swarm. I tossed Nao a vial of poison antidote as we did.

"Thanks," she said, swallowing it in one gulp.

I nodded and sliced open another monster. "Don't mention it."

When we'd finally cleared the room of the little pests, a notification popped up - - we'd gotten the silver key as a bonus. Nao and I grinned at each other before bumping fists again.

The two of us slowly made our way around the room until we came upon the door to the third room. It opened at our presence and we stepped through. I groaned inwardly. Of all the rooms in Dungeon #42, this was the one I hated the most. Not only did it have an even greater number of pesky iron honeybees, but some blocks went up and down _as well_ as side-to-side. It made navigation _that _much harder.

Nao seemed to share my opinion. "Oh, great," she groaned at the sight of the third room.

"Alright, listen, Nao-chan," I said. "We have no time for making small talk. Try to engage in battle with as few monsters as possible. The path in this room is _waaaay_ more complex than the last two, and it we'll probably end up having to go back and restart a few more times anyway."

She nodded. "Got it."

My newest party member and I began the next confusing maze of moving blocks. The dungeon's music was really starting to annoy me, and I wished there was a way to turn down the sound.

Up and down, left and right we went. Nao and I almost missed a couple of blocks at one point. Another time, I accidentally did the same thing Nao had when we first entered the dungeon. Nao managed to catch my arm as I fell to the spikes with an annoyingly high-pitched yell.

"There," she said as she pulled me back up to safety. "We're even now."

I rolled my eyes, but a smile tugged at my lips. I was surprisingly comfortable with being around Nao, despite the fact that I'd never been much of a social bug.

Although we had a couple near misses, everything was going great - - until Nao was overcome with another panic attack.

It happened at one of the worst possible times. Our next block was passing under the block we currently stood on, and we'd have to jump out and down to reach it. I made it perfectly fine. However, just as Nao's foot began to lift off the edge, it hit her. She toppled forward, screaming her heart out.

My breath hitched. "NAO-CHAN!"

Her writhing body fell through the air, just missing my block. My eyes widened to the size of dinner plates. There was no time to catch her - - she just fell down, down, down. I roared in desperation and brought two Teleport Crystals out of my inventory.

Then, with a slight hesitation, I threw myself off the block. I hurtled through the air on a direct collision course with Nao.

_WHUMP._

My awkwardly large body connected with her small one in midair. I activated both Teleport Crystals, yelled, "Teleport: Shining Glade!" and pressed one into her hand.

A second later, we vanished from the dungeon and fell into my "hometown's" town square.

Nao's eyes were blank and unfocused. She had an insane countenance, sobbing and trying to push off of me. I held her tight so she wouldn't accidentally hurt herself. Her panicked frenzy attracted the attentions of several curious bystanders, who shot us strange glances. I ignored them and focused on calming down my new friend.

"Nao-chan," I said gently, patting her back. "Nao, please listen to me. Whatever you're seeing, it's a hallucination. NAO-CHAN."

I ad libbed things similar to the above. For a few minutes, Nao remained crazy and unresponsive.

Then her screams grew quieter and quieter. Her body stopped trembling as badly. Her arms raised and squeezed themselves lightly around my back. I could feel my face burning a little - - I'd never hugged a girl other than my mom or sister.

"H-Hiro-kun," Nao whispered. "Arigato. Again."

I released her from the unplanned hug. "You almost died there," I said. "Of course I'd help."

"Random Panic... seems to be hitting me pretty hard today."

"Want to save the dungeon crawling for tomorrow? It might be a bit dangerous for you today."

She shook her white-topped head. "Nah. I've got you, haven't I? You've saved me twice now." Nao grinned weakly and poked my chest playfully. "I think I'll be fine."

* * *

Take 3.

I decided it might be easier to carry Nao princess-style through the dungeon. She was insistent on going herself and not letting me clear it alone, but with her Random Panic attacks, she could potentially fall off another block... and the next time I might not be able to save her.

Of course, Nao was highly embarrassed when I suddenly scooped her up into my arms.

"O-Oi!" she complained, glaring daggers at me. "Who said you could carry me like this, huh!? We just met today! This is totally not cool!"

I sighed. "It's for your own good, Nao-chan."

She punched me angrily in an attempt to let me go. I snorted and ignored the attempt. It made my HP drop a minute notch, but otherwise didn't affect me.

And so I carried her through the first two dungeon rooms in my arms.

"Let me go already," Nao groaned as we re-entered the third room. "I feel fine!'

"You do now - - but what if your Random Panic strikes up again?"

She took a deep breath. "You're at least gonna drop me for the boss fight, right?"

The boss fight? I sweatdropped. I'd forgotten that was the whole reason we were here and hadn't considered what I'd do with Nao then. I supposed she was right. I'd _have_ to let her go then, or I might get both of us killed. It had been hard enough avoiding the iron honeybees in the previous two rooms.

"Yeah, I guess," I conceded.

We made our way through the room, dodging iron honeybees and shit. Halfway up to the boss room entrance (which was located at the top of the room), yet another monster swarm set its sights on us. I reluctantly put Nao down so we could both fight them.

The white-haired girl whirled like snow through the swarm, slicing apart iron honeybees with awesome speed. She twisted and turned, stabbing the point of her rapier into multiple mobs so quickly I could barely follow her movements. Of course, I didn't just sit there watching her. I gave a hefty contribution to the monster-slaying myself.

"You're a Speed/Agility/Dexterity type?" I guessed as we both sheathed our weapons, the last of the iron honeybees shattering into AI fragments.

Nao nodded. "Yep."

"A bit cliche for a girl, eh?"

"As if a guy pouring all his Upgrade Points into Strength isn't cliche."

I grinned. "That's not where _all_ my Points went. I gave myself some better Defense and Agility, too. Admittedly, my speed absolutely sucks."

Several more minutes passed. We gradually crept closer to the exit platform. Nao seemed to be itching to get to the boss fight - - she hopped from foot to foot impatiently, her teeth grinding against each other. The closer we got, the more restless she became.

Finally, we reached the boss floor, and Nao grinned darkly.

"I'm here at last," she said. "I can practically taste that next ingredient."

The door split in the middle and silently slid apart, allowing us to enter. A dark, circular chamber was revealed behind it. Nao and I looked at each other and nodded before stepping through.

And immediately, I knew something was wrong. I wasn't sure what. The air just had a different feel to it than normal, like there was an enormously powerful beast residing here. There was a slight pause and then the boss room's theme played. But it was different as well - - more tense and blood-pumping.

The boss glided out of the shadows, huge, transparent wings beating so rapidly that it rippled our hair from twenty yards away.

Nao narrowed her eyes as she checked the boss's name and HP. "_Miel the Iron Hive Queen,_" she read, and her eyes widened. "It has five health bars!? That's insane!"

I face-faulted. "Wait, did you say five?" I checked Miel's info, too, and gaped. "Whoa! You're right! But that - - that can't be true... she should only have three health bars. She actually has a lot less HP than most bosses, although her incredible defense makes up for it... What's going on?"

"Must be an event or - -"

Nao didn't get to finish her sentence. The Iron Hive Queen suddenly glared straight at her, and raised its stinger. Then, with impossibly rapid movements, it pulled back and dived at her. Nao yelped, ducking and rolling to the side. If she hadn't raised her Speed and Agility as much as she did, that attack would've done some serious damage.

"Holy crap," she breathed.

I unsheathed my greatsword and pointed it straight at Miel. "Too close," I agreed, and charged forward with a loud battle cry.

The queen bee's attention turned to me. I gulped, but drew my greatsword back and leaped into the air. I twisted and put all my strength into a massive downward blow. For a second, it looked like my blade would connect with Miel's iron hide.

I blinked.

And Miel wasn't there anymore.

"What the hell...?" I gasped aloud... and something very sharp and very painful punctured my back.

Nao drew out her rapier. "Hiro-kun!" she yelled desperately. "Switch!"

I collapsed to the ground hurtfully, groaning as a red injury mark appeared on my back. I couldn't see it, but I could feel it's almost evil warmth. I could also see my health drop from the green to the yellow, and almost to the red.

"Health potion..." I muttered, pulling up my inventory. The sounds of Nao's sword clashing against Miel's metal skin filled the air. "I need a health potion." I scrolled through until I found a Superior one, and drank it greedily. To my relief, a sizable portion of my HP returned.

Okay, so maybe neglecting my Speed Stat had been a bad thing.

I picked myself up and turned around, frowning at Miel. Nao was managing to keep up with the boss remarkably well, her great Speed giving her more of an edge than my high Strength. Even so, Nao still received a couple glancing blows on her arm and leg. Cursing, she jumped back.

"Switch!" I said.

Before the literally queen-sized bee could react, I dashed forward and unleashed a powerful horizontal slash. My trusty blade bit into the thing's stomach and cut a thin line across. Miel's HP shrank a good fraction.

The battle dragged on like that - - Nao and I would swap between fighting and healing ourselves, according to when Miel landed a particularly dicey hit. My ears rang with the resounding dings of metal against metal. I didn't bother keeping track of time, but my internal clock told me it had to be getting late.

As good as the battle was going, I knew something was wrong. Dungeon #42's boss had never been this strong or this fast before. Her strong attacks were taking out almost half of our HP at once. Our stores of health potion quickly shrunk. Luckily, I'd played it safe and bought more than I'd thought necessary before we first set out for the dungeon. Otherwise, we'd probably have died about two hours into the fight.

Miel's final HP bar depleted to half-way full... and that was when things really heated up.

The monster's body shuddered. Her wings flapped even more rapidly. Nao and I glanced nervously at each other. This health bar of Miel's was at seventy-five percent health. I had a little over half remaining. Luckily, Miel's defense drastically decreased (like, to the point where one good hit could gank her) at this point, but... if our opponent's attack pattern was changing (which it usually didn't at this point), we could be a bit screwed.

Miel let out a strange metallic hiss, like nails against a chalk board, snake-style.

I pulled back my greatsword to charge up a Sword Skill. As I did so, the queenly bee's body started shifting in an almost completely random pattern around the chamber, making Nao and I constantly spin around to try and determine her location. When we did catch glimpses of her, the boss was a mere silver blur.

"Is this normal?" shouted Nao in annoyance.

A cold bead of sweat trickled on my forehead. "No! I don't know what she's doing!"

Miel suddenly appeared, baring down at Nao. My party member shouted in fright, falling backwards. The iron bee's stinger stabbed into Nao's stomach, and time seemed to slow down. My blood became like ice.

Memory flashed through my mind. I was dragged back to the terrible events of six months ago. Insane laughter echoed in my ears, along with the soft gasp of my mother as the fatal knife struck between her eyes.

To me, it was the same as back then.

I glanced over my shoulder. The entrance to the boss room was strangely open, taunting me to escape. If Nao couldn't even dodge Miel's newer, faster attacks, there was no way I could. Nao was as good as dead. Unless the boss was beaten soon and we Teleported back to town, it would be game over for her - - in more ways than one.

Nao's head slumped limply to the floor.

I took a step back.

And disgust coursed through my body. Disgust at both myself for being so weak as to even consider running away again, and disgust at Miel for thinking it could get away with being unusually stronger and attempting to kill my new friend. My disgust turned to rage.

My blood boiled. I was so angry, I actually saw red.

I spat at Miel, "GET OFF OF HER, YOU STUPID BITCH!" and roared ferociously.

Time sped up again. My feet pounded against the cold stone floor as I charged forth. Held out behind me like a baseball bat, my greatsword glowed green as I charged up my Sword Skill. I pushed the Skill to its limits, building it up as much as humanly possible. Howling, I unleashed an uppercut-like slice, jumping upward and backward with the motion. My weapon cut into Miel like a hot knife through butter.

"GO TO HELL!"

With a final heave of my back muscles, my greatsword sliced through the last bit of iron hide, and I landed smoothly on the ground.

Miel burst into millions of red polygons. A victorious fanfare blared, and the usual _Congratulations!_ message popped up. In front of me, a screen appeared, telling me my earnings. For landing the final blow on the boss, I'd won a couple thousand Cor, 5400 EXP, and an item called "Crystallicide."

I clicked OK, but none of those concerned me right now. Nao was still laying half-dead on the floor.

I knelt next to her and checked her HP. Not good - - there was only the tiniest sliver of it left.

Despite her current situation, Nao managed a weak smile. "That was... pretty cool, Hiro-kun," she said, wincing in pain. "Your high voice kind of made the whole thing ridiculous, though."

"Oh, shut up," I told her, though I allowed myself a short laugh. "Do you have any health potions left?"

Nao shook her head. "I used 'em all up before her attack pattern changed."

"I'll toss ya one of mine, then."

I pulled my last vial of HP potion from my inventory and handed it to her. She accepted it with a grateful, shaky nod, uncapped it, and sucked it down like it was water from the Fountain of Youth. I let out a breath I hadn't realized I'd been holding as her HP bar slowly filled back up.

She coughed. "You looked really angry there. Any particular reason?"

"You're a party member," I said bluntly. "And I'm not gonna let my party members die on me, you hear? If you _had_ died, well..."

I trailed off, thinking, _I don't think I could've handled it, especially since it was so similar to back then..._ And also, I'd felt like maybe, if I saved Nao... well, I might be able to atone a little for allowing Mom to die.

After a pause, Nao blushed a little and nodded.

"Help a girl up?"

I grasped her hand and pulled her to her feet. She grinned. "Alright, if you've got the monster's item drop, let's blow this Popsicle stand."

Nao obviously didn't want to stay in this dungeon any longer than she had to, and I couldn't agree more.

* * *

**I am _extremely _pleased with how well this chapter turned out, especially being finished so soon after the first. For those of you who were wondering about Nao's beam-shooting thing, I sort of explained it above. I figured it wouldn't be _that_ out of place as a Unique Skill. Giving it a one-use-per-day limit also helps to not make it a Mary Sue move. I take careful consideration when making each new character and assigning him/her abilities, relationships, etc.**

**I hope you're all as happy with this second chapter as I am! If you are, I wouldn't say no to you following and/or favoriting my fanfic. It would support me as a writer and also let you be notified of whenever I post a new chappie! Of course, neither action is necessary to keep me writing; they're just greatly appreciated. What's even more appreciated than that are reviews! Let me know what your thoughts are about my writing. Didja catch a mistake I accidentally made? Was there a certain part you thought was exceptionally cool or funny? Do you think I could've done something better? Review away!**

**-TheRealEvanSG**


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